Issue

in this issue >>>

Ray Kurzweil in Utah! (well, sort of) Association conference announced New Association Board members SLC Singularity Institute Summit

Ray Kurzweil
Finding An Agent Thats Right For You
On August 3, 2011, several Association members met at the Draper Cinemax theater to tune into a conversation with Ray Kurzweil about the future. Touching on topics such as the law of accelerating returns, spirituality, and robotics, the eight panelists (four pictured below) illustrated and debated the what and how of humanitys future.

A quarterly review of the Mormon Transhumanist Association

Transfigurist Quarterly
Deepak Chopra, and

coming soon >>>

Association Conference
When: April 6, 2012
spiritualism self-help guru Michio physicist Kaku, Dean inventor Kamen, Tan Le, Technology entrepreneur

Where: TBA, likely in SLC What: MTA members and guest speakers will address contemporary transhumanist topics

current topics >>>

Growing membership
Interested people continue to join the ranks. Since its inception in March 2006, the Association consistently adds about 2 members a month, and currently stands about 130 strong. MTA members are located primarily in the USA. However, MTA members come from 9 other countries as well (Norway, Philippines, Slovakia, Australia, Canada, Finland, Poland, South Africa, and Germany). For more information go to www.transfigurism.org

New Board Members

9-member board gains 3 replacements!
Association Board members serve for three years. Each year around May, three members of the Board of Directors expire, and three new ones are elected. All voting Association members may participate in Board of Director elections.

prominent

Singularity Institute Summit

June 4, 2011 5432 Any Street West Salt Lake City, Utah Townsville, State 54321 Grand American Hotel

Chris Bradford, Director and Vice President Returning Board Member

Chris lived in Egypt, Germany, Jordan, Pakistan and Italy, where he served an Chis is passionate LDS mission. A self-taught Brad Carmack, Director and about science, programmer, he manages Secretary social & mobile develop- technology, religion, ment at Ancestry.com. philosophy, and the per- Brad graduated from the Chris and wife Lucy have JD/MPA program at BYU forming arts. five sons and three daughin April 2011. He majored ters. Chris is passionate in biology, performed about science, technology, religion, phiclerk assignments for Justice Joel Horlosophy, and the performing arts. ton of the Idaho Supreme Court, and worked as a teachers assistant for huNathan Hadfield, Director man resources law, biodiversity, manNathan is a founding partner at MacsDeagement ethics, and bioethics. Brad is sign Studio, a software company speauthor of Homosexuality: A Straight cializing in service management soluBYU Students Perspective," and blogs tions. He worked as a software engineer at bradcarmack.blogspot.com. at Motorola and as a technical instructor

and curriculum developer at BroadVision. He served a mission for the LDS Church in LA. Nathan and wife Molly have two energetic little boys.

REAL E STATE
COM PAN Y MTA members Lincoln Cannon, Brad Carmack, Michael Ferguson, and Brent Allsop attended the Singularity Institute Conference in SLC.. Lincoln blogged: The event was organized by the Singularity Institute and Robert Brazell, founder of Overstock.com. The Singularity Institute is an affiliate of Humanity+, which is also affiliated with the Mormon Transhumanist Association. The topic was emerging technology. Robert Brazell welcomed us with the intriguing notion that reason, rather than knowledge, has become a key scarce resource. That idea was echoed immediately afterward by Michael Vassar, president of the Singularity Institute, Other speakers included Ray Kurzweil (who beamed in via Teleportec), aging specialist Aubrey de Gray, PayPal founder Luke Nosek, Skype lead Jaan Tallinn, a Khan Academy (online education) representative, and Deepa Kulkarni (who regrew her amputated fingertip using regenerative powder). who told us that we should seek to understand how to think well enough to teach thinking to a machine Dipnarine Maharaj followed up, advising us that we should all bank our own stem cells, for use in future regenerative therapies, while we are still young and healthy.